A rendering shows plans for Terafab, the massive chip manufacturing recently by SpaceX and Tesla Inc. for a site in Grimes County. (SpaceX)
Elon Musk’s vision to build the world’s largest chip manufacturing plant is moving ahead.
This video created with the assistance of AI.
Dubbed Terafab, the semiconductor project calls for a massive manufacturing plant in Grimes County, east of College Station, while Tesla is developing a related research operation at Gigafactory Texas outside Austin. Now, new state records offer fresh details about work on the Austin semiconductor facility and the timeline for the Terafab plant.
Construction filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation detail $150,000 in planned work across several projects at Tesla’s Austin campus, including work on its semiconductor facility.
One project filing lists $50,000 in ground-up construction and an interior finish-out for what Tesla calls its “Austin semiconductor fab.” Another project, dubbed “north campus manufacturing,” similarly lists new construction work on Harold Green Road. On Robotic Avenue amid its sprawling Austin campus, Tesla describes new construction for Cortex 2.0, the name the company has given to its AI training supercluster.
Ground preparation for a chip research facility associated with the planned Terafab project can be seen at Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas near Austin on Aug. 6. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman)
While the Austin site where Tesla plans to test chips is making headway as construction continues and equipment orders are placed, the main Terafab site in Grimes County is also moving along rapidly.
Terafab advances
First announced in March, SpaceX and Tesla’s Terafab project aims to make chips for artificial intelligence and space data centers.
In July, the rural school districts where the massive facility will be built signed off on school tax breaks for the project. Gov. Greg Abbott also signed off on the incentive shortly after. Now, a new filing posted by the Texas comptroller oofers more about Terafab’s timeline and economic impact.
An executed agreement under the Texas Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation Act requires an average of 10 jobs in Grimes County during each tax year of the agreement and a $20 million investment by the end of the incentive agreement’s first year.
The required wage for those 10 annual jobs, on average, is set at $66,668, according to the finalized JETI agreement. The plant eventually is expected to employ at least 3,000 people, with many of those jobs expected to go to residents of Grimes and neighboring Brazos counties. SpaceX has said it will make an initial $16.8 billion investment in the massive manufacturing facility.
The site of the demolished Gibbons Creek Power Plant in Grimes County, about 15 miles east of College Station, is seen on June 7. The site and surrounding area is the approximate location of the proposed SpaceX Terafab semiconductor chip manufacturing plant. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman)
Meanwhile, construction is slated to begin before the end of this year. The agreements list a Dec. 1 construction start date and planned completion by the end of 2028, while incentives run through 2038.